The five-year initiative targets 210 health facilities across eight regions, aiming to avert 86,000 preventable deaths by 2031
ADDIS ABABA — October 13, 2026 : Ethiopia and the philanthropic initiative Beginnings Fund launched a $90 million, five-year healthcare partnership on Tuesday, targeting preventable deaths among mothers and newborns across 210 medical centers in eight regions.
The drive is designed to avert an estimated 86,000 maternal and infant deaths and stillbirths by 2031. It focuses on training frontline clinicians, supplying low-cost medical interventions, and overhauling emergency referral networks.
Of the total outlay, $10 million flows directly through Ethiopia’s Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (RMNCH) Compact, an administrative mechanism established by the federal government to align state budgets with foreign philanthropic funding.
Ethiopian Health Minister Dr. Mekdes Daba Feyssa formally introduced the program in Addis Ababa alongside UAE Ambassador Abdalla Hassan Alshamsi and Beginnings Fund Chief Executive Alice Kang’ethe.
“By bringing together government investment, catalytic philanthropy and partner financing behind our national priorities, we can strengthen the health workforce, expand access to proven interventions and build stronger systems for quality care,” Dr. Feyssa said at the launch. She described the agreement as a direct investment in the country’s clinical infrastructure to safeguard future generations.
The Beginnings Fund, backed principally by the Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity, operates as a $525 million coalition created in Abu Dhabi in 2025. Its stated mission is to curb maternal and perinatal mortality across sub-Saharan Africa by deploying tested clinical interventions at scale.
Anchor backers supporting the broader initiative include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, Delta Philanthropies, and the ELMA Foundation.
Over the next five years, regional facilities in Ethiopia will receive diagnostic tools, basic neonatal resuscitation gear, and essential medicines alongside improvements to real-time clinical data systems. Healthcare workers will undergo specialized obstetrics and neonatal management training to handle birth complications before they become fatal.
“Today’s announcement builds upon the Foundation’s longstanding partnership with Ethiopia and our shared commitment to the health of mothers and babies,” said Dr. Shamma Khalifa Al Mazrouei, Director-General of the Mohamed bin Zayed Foundation for Humanity. “Together, we can ensure more mothers give birth safely, more newborns have a healthy start in life, and fewer families experience the burden of preventable loss.”
Ethiopia is the third African state to formalize an agreement under the initiative, following bilateral rollouts in Kenya and Malawi.
Across its target footprint, the fund aims to reach 34 million mothers and infants across 10 African nations by 2031, with a continental target of averting over 300,000 deaths.
“Every woman should be able to give birth safely, and every newborn should have the best possible start in life,” Kang’ethe said, adding that the five-year plan directs funds straight into regional clinics where the service gap is widest.
